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How to Categorize your SKUs with Smart Types/Amazon Item Types
How to Categorize your SKUs with Smart Types/Amazon Item Types

Learn how to add Smart Types to your SKUs on Zentail to quickly categorize them for other channels and marketplaces

Michael Goldmeier avatar
Written by Michael Goldmeier
Updated over 3 years ago

Categorizing your SKUs for every channel can be a tedious and time consuming process. Fortunately, Zentail's Smart Type system makes it easy to efficiently categorize your SKUs for all your marketplaces. The best part is you only have to do it once! 

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Whether working directly on Zentail's User Interface (UI) or using the import / export feature, there are two ways to add SMART Types.

  1. Add your Amazon item-type

  2. Add an existing SMART Type

Video Tutorial

Option 1: Adding in Amazon Item Types

Once you've added a valid Amazon item-type to a SKU, Zentail will automatically infer and assign a Smart Type and will fill in all associated channel categories such as: Walmart Product Type, Amazon Product Type, eBay Category, and Google Category. 

Create a template and Generate a report

  1. Go to your Imports Page and click on Create New Template 

  2. Select "Product" Report Type

  3. Enter a label i.e. "Amazon Item Type Template"

  4. Scroll down to the columns section

  5. SKU should be preselected, add Title and Amazon Item Type

  6. Click "Create a Template" 

  1. Under the Custom Report Templates section, Click on the Amazon Item Type Template you just created

  2. Click download Report

  3. Leave "Include Header" and "Active Products Only" checked

  4. Click Start Generating Report

  5. You will be taken to the Previous Exports Page, after a couple minutes the report will generate and you can click the "Cloud icon" under the Download column to download a CSV. The CSV will contain your active SKUs with blank or filled in cells in the Amazon Item Type Column. The goal is to have them all filled in. 

Using the Amazon Product Classifier to identify Amazon Item Types

  1. Use this Amazon Product Classifier to obtain your Amazon Item Type

  2. Enter the Amazon Item Type you feel is best into the corresponding cell in your Report. Note: Make sure the Amazon Item Type is formatted properly on the .csv before you import it. They should have dashes ( - ) instead of spaces.

Upload the Report

Finally, follow the below steps to upload the report into the Amazon Item Type Template you created in step 2. Make sure you save it as a CSV file.

  1. Click on the Custom Report Template you created

  2. Click Upload

  3. Select the CSV file

  4. Click Next Step

  5. Click Preview  (Click on "Row 1" etc). This is important because we want to make sure everything is aligned correctly and is a way of verifying that the file is in CSV format. If you can't see a preview, it is likely not in CSV format.

  6. Click Next Step

  7. Select the fields you want to import. In this case, we added in Amazon Item Types, but did not change any titles. As a result, you should un-check Titles. This can also prevent us accidentally overwriting our titles. 

In most cases, all your SKUs should now have a Smart Type with fields already autofilled. In some cases, they may be new Smart Types in which case the fields mentioned above may not be filled in. You will be able to recognize if this is the case by viewing the critical errors on the channel card for each SKU that say you need a certain field before a SKU can be listed.
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If this is the case:

  • Ask your onboarding specialist to review the import of Amazon Item Types.

  • Tell them that Smart Types may need to be optimized and we will ask our data entry team to do so.

Option 2: Adding Existing Smart Types

Create a template and Generate a report

  1. Go to your Imports Page and click on Create New Template 

  2. Enter a label i.e. "Smart Type Template"

  3. Scroll down to the columns section

  4. SKU should be preselected, add Title and Smart Type

  5. Click "Create a Template" 

  6. Under the Custom Report Templates section, Click on the Smart Type Template you just created

  7. Click download Report

  8. Leave "Include Header" and "Active Products Only" checked

  9. Click Start Generating Report

  10. You will be taken to the Previous Exports Page, after a couple minutes the report will generate and you can click the "Cloud icon" under the Download column to download a CSV. The CSV will contain your active SKUs with blank or filled in cells in the Smart Type Column. The goal is to have them all filled in. 

Fill in Pre-Existing Smart Types

  1. You can Copy and Paste Existing Smart Types from similar SKUs that are already filled in

  2. You can search Smart Types in the Smart Type field in the edit product view on the Catalog Page. If you see one appear in the drop down menu, enter it in your CSV file. 

  3. Note: When importing Smart Types to Zentail, the Smart type should have an underscore ( _ ) instead of spaces.

Upload the Report

Finally, follow the below steps to upload the report into the Smart Type Template you created in step 2. Make sure you save it as a CSV file.

  1. Click on the Custom Report Template you created

  2. Click UploadSelect the CSV file

  3. Click Next Step

  4. Click Preview  (Click on "Row 1" etc). This is important because we want to make sure everything is aligned correctly and is a way of verifying that the file is in CSV format. If you can't see a preview it is likely not in CSV format.

  5. Click Next Step

  6. Select the fields you want to import. In this case, we added in Smart Types, but did not change any titles. As a result, you should un-check Titles. This can also prevent us accidentally overwriting our titles. 

If you notice certain categories missing,  let your Onboarding specialist know and they will optimize the smart type.

Contact Sales

Or contact our Success Team: [email protected]. 

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